1. Is it still bigamy if I had same-sex marriage in a foreign country and then married another person in Hong Kong afterwards?
Bigamy is a criminal offence of marrying someone while still being legally married to another, and it is a ground to nullify a marriage. Even if same-sex marriage is not legalized in Hong Kong, as long as the same-sex marriage is celebrated or contracted outside Hong Kong in accordance with the law in force at the time and in the place where the marriage was performed, and both parties have the capacity to marry in accordance with the law of each party’s domicile before marriage, you are still considered as legally married to another and liable to a charge of bigamy if you then married another person in Hong Kong. Individuals declaring themselves as ‘bachelor/spinster’ and later discovered to have already been married in a pre-existing relationship (recognized or unrecognized) overseas may still find themselves still liable for prosecution for making a “false declaration” for the purpose of procuring marriage and “bigamy”. The marriage would have to be dissolved after finalizing all the formalities of a divorce in the foreign country before being able to remarry in Hong Kong.